Park City, UT Sundance Institute today premiered the Sundance Institute Short Film Challenge, a program of nine international short films, at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The program is designed to spark global conversation about solutions to challenges like extreme hunger and poverty. Beginning Tuesday (February 3), the short films will premiere on a variety of digital platforms.
Five of these films were selected among 1,387 submissions from 89 countries on Tongal.com, a creative platform which powered a global call for film entries that used the transformative power of storytelling to generate discussion, shift perceptions around extreme worldwide concerns and harness the power of independent film to create a global conversation about these issues. Contributors on Tongal could submit finished films or story ideas based on the above topics. This program is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which encourages people inspired by these stories to join www.globalcitizen.org, a global movement that works towards ending extreme poverty in the world by 2030.
The screening at the Festival includes new short films by Sundance Institute alumni Marialy Rivas (Melody), Diego Luna (Nana), Gael Garc a Bernal (The Visible Hand) and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (The World is as Big or as Small as You Make It).
The Short Film Challenge winning short films and directors are: Man in the Maze by Phil Buccellato and Jesse Ash (United States), Dropping In by Willem Van Den Heever (South Africa), Isabelles Garden by Jeffrey Palmer (United States), 175 Grams by Bharat Mirle and Aravind Iyer (India) and A Will of Iron by Seyi Fabunmi and Mobolaji Adeolu (Nigeria). Each filmmaker or film team received a $10,000 grant and will attend the Festival.
The films will premiere on digital media platforms beginning Tuesday (February 3) with Marialy Rivas' film Melody on the New York Times Op Docs page, Gael Garc a Bernal's film The Visible Hand on VICE Mexico, Diego Luna's film Nana on AJ+, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's film The World is as Big or as Small As You Make It on Upworthy, Bharat Mirle and Aravind Iyer's film 175 Grams on Fast Company, Jeffrey Palmers film Isabelles Garden on Indian Country Today Media Network, Willem Van Den Heever's film Dropping In on RYOT.org, and Phil Buccellato's film Man in the Maze on the Arizona Daily Star. Additional platforms will be announced. To watch short films that premiered last year as part of the Sundance Institute Short Film Challenge or to learn more visit: Sundance.org/anotheryou.
Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, The Short Film Challenge has been an opportunity for a group of filmmakers from around the world to illuminate under-told stories and raise awareness about important issues. With the support of the Gates Foundation, we are proud to present this selection of short films by emerging and more established voices at the Festival and hope they inspire dialogue and conversation.
The four films made with production grants by acclaimed Sundance Institute Alumni in support of the Short Film Challenge are:
Melody / Chile (Director: Marialy Rivas) Music is Melodys inspiration and Georginas first language. When Georgina is taken to the north of Chile, away from her music and her beloved Chonchi, Melody must find a way to rescue her from a world of silence. Together with their beloved youth orchestra, they form a family through music and get a chance to perform at the countrys biggest theatre. World Premiere
Nana / Mexico (Director: Diego Luna) Nana depicts the daily journey one woman makes between two very distinct worlds, and shares the personal story of another nanny, reflecting on the unique role Mexican nannies hold as one of the countrys few bridges between social classes. World Premiere.
The Visible Hand / Argentina (Director: Gael Garc a Bernal) Romina goes to Silvinas to give her a haircut. They dont know each other and have gotten in touch through a free online platform that connects people offering and looking for services of all kinds. Romina is not a professional hairdresser, but Silvina isnt looking for the best haircut. She is rather looking for someone to talk to. World Premiere
The World is as Big or as Small as You Make It / United States (Directors: Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady) In North Philidelphia, local 12-15 year olds gather at a neighborhood recreation center with cell phones and iPads to forge friendships with their peers across the world. This exposure to new corners of the Earth prove to be touching and surprising for students who have never left their hometown. Tools known best with teens as a medium for texting and selfies are now witness to the great and sometimes unfulfilled potential that exists in our own backyard. (Story Idea Winner) World Premiere
The Short Film Challenge winning films are:
175 Grams / India (Director: Bharat Mirle and Aravind Iyer) At the face of it Flywild is just another team of enthusiasts who get together at Elliot's Beach, Chennai and play ultimate frisbee, a sport, which is rapidly gaining popularity in India. 175 Grams takes a closer look at lives of the members at Flywild, how they got into ultimate frisbee, the way its shaping their daily lives and what they look forward to in the future as individuals and as a team. World Premiere.
A Will of Iron / Nigeria (Directors: Seyi Fabunmi and Mobolaji Adeolu) A true life story of a homeless blacksmith living under the Third Mainland Bridge (the longest bridge in Africa) in Lagos, Nigeria with his wife and baby for almost 15 years. He shares his struggles, hopes, and dreams while under the bridge. World Premiere
Dropping In / South Africa (Director: Willem Van Den Heever) A coming-of-age skateboard drama inspired by actual events. Sam, a teenage boy living on the
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
20/10/2025
Inside TAMS: How Time-Addressable Media Stores could redefine sports workflows By Paul Markham
Friday, October 17, 2025 - 08:57
Print This Story
A penalty...
20/10/2025
Transformational production: Inside TVN's remote production push for the DFL...
20/10/2025
How NBC Sports Transitioned Stamford Facility to One Format: 1080p HDRMulti-year plan harmonizes workflows, simplifies operationsBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial ...
20/10/2025
NBA on NBC' Studio Production Team Is Ready for Tip-Off With Coast-to-Coast...
20/10/2025
Under pressure: TVN CEO Markus Osthaus considers the German sports broadcasting ...
20/10/2025
(L-R) Maria Dizzia, Carmen Emmi, and Russell Tovey attend the Plainclothes pre...
20/10/2025
In March, we launched Concerts Near You to help listeners find concerts from their favorite artists. Since then, more than 3 million people have used it to disc...
20/10/2025
Em diversas cidades do Brasil, um movimento tem se fortalecido para celebrar o poder, a beleza e a profundidade da criatividade negra. O Dia AMPLIFIKA, agora em...
20/10/2025
In cities across Brazil, a movement is growing that celebrates the power, beauty, and depth of Black creativity. AMPLIFIKA Day, now in its fifth edition, return...
20/10/2025
Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft rendering...
20/10/2025
DENVER and MUNICH Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of...
20/10/2025
LOS ANGELES G Morgan has joined Globecast, a provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, as executive vice president of sales, Globecast Am...
20/10/2025
PLYMOUTH, Wisc. Heartland Video Systems and Zixi have partnered to enable broadcast-quality live video delivery over any IP network....
20/10/2025
A. R. Rahman on Facing Fear and Finding the Divine In an interview with Berklee President Jim Lucchese, the Oscar-winning composer reflects on how courage and...
20/10/2025
Monday 20 October 2025
To view this content, please enable our use of cookies. ...
20/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz transfers Pixel Power to Imagine Communications Companies work collaboratively to ensure continuity and ongoing support for existing customers...
20/10/2025
RT 's Prime Time is set to host the final Presidential Election Debate this Tuesday night, October 21, providing an opportunity to hear directly from Irelan...
20/10/2025
NVIDIA and Google Cloud are expanding access to accelerated computing to transform the full spectrum of enterprise workloads, from visual computing to agentic a...
19/10/2025
Back to All News
Sins of Kujo' Comes to Life in New Live-Action Series Set for Spring 2026
Entertainment
19 October 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
18/10/2025
New England Sports Network (NESN) has chosen Harmonic, working with Astound Business Solutions, as its enterprise technology partner to transform primary distri...
18/10/2025
NEW ORLEANS, La. In the run-up to the start of the NBA season, WVUE-TV and Gray Local Media have announced a deal with DirecTV that will greatly expand access t...
18/10/2025
Berklee Celebrates 40 Years of the Fall Together Concert Faculty composers Bob Pilkington and Greg Hopkins are among the featured artists for this year's ...
17/10/2025
NEP Group Receives New Equity Investment From 26North Partners LP, Co-InvestorsCarlyle remains the largest shareholder as the company prepares for the futureBy ...
17/10/2025
Apple Lands Five-Year Deal for F1 Distribution in the U.S.Besides airing on Apple TV, the sport will be amplified on other Apple servicesBy Ken Kerschbaumer, Ed...
17/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Marshall Electronics' Bernie Keach on the Future of PTZ Camera...
17/10/2025
L2 Productions' REMI Facility in Austin Can Produce Content From AnywhereMusic festivals, sports events are produced via flypacks and remote control roomsBy...
17/10/2025
By Lucy Spicer
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival...
17/10/2025
(L-R) Christopher Meyer, Addison Timlin, Cooper Raiff, Lili Reinhart, Alyah Chan...
17/10/2025
M sica e arte se uniram em uma noite especial na semana passada na ZIV Gallery, ...
17/10/2025
Music and art came together for one special night last week at ZIV Gallery, an i...
17/10/2025
Spotify and FC Barcelona are extending our partnership through 2030, continuing a collaboration that's redefining how fans, players, and artists connect. Th...
17/10/2025
MURRIETA, Calif. The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC) has deployed DigitalGlue's creative.space storage platform to streamline video production by centrali...
17/10/2025
BELLEVUE, Wash. Football continued to cement its reputation as a bulwark of TV advertising in Q3 2025 with new data from iSpot that showed both the NFL and coll...
17/10/2025
The Sports Fishing Championship (SFC), the premier competitive saltwater fishing series, has transformed its production workflow by adopting creative.space, the...
17/10/2025
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, announces the release of StudioPro Version 4, ...
17/10/2025
Although the annual Grammy Awards celebration is best known for recognizing achievements in the recording industry, the show often proves a visual spectacle as ...
17/10/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leading provider of software-defined data storage and data services, has promoted Alex Dunfey to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) from his for...
17/10/2025
The University of Arizona (UofA) has significantly upgraded its broadcast communication infrastructure with the integration of Riedel Communications' advanc...
17/10/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that New England Sports Network (NESN), owned by Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North, has selected Harmonic as its en...
17/10/2025
Austin PBS has recently upgraded its facility-wide communications infrastructure, deploying Clear-Com 's Eclipse HX, FreeSpeak II beltpacks, and V-Series ...
17/10/2025
ZEISS announces an open call for the closed BETA testing phase of CinCraft Virtual Lens Technology, the innovative digital tool that brings authentic lens chara...
17/10/2025
Situated in the town of Kokkola, Centria University of Applied Sciences offers higher education across five core fields: engineering, business, social and healt...
17/10/2025
Public information channel in Georgia, USA, to implement a powerful, simple, and cost-effective playout automation platform.
Pebble, the leading automation, co...
17/10/2025
HBO Max is reporting that it has launched in 15 new markets, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Macau, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Ukraine, boosting the streaming serv...
17/10/2025
Netflix said it will make a major push into video podcasts, inking a wide-ranging deal with Spotify through which it will offer 16 podcasts in the U.S. starting...
17/10/2025
Lexington, Ky. As part of a push to highlight its advanced advertising capabilities, Viamedia has launched a new AI-powered ad tech platform and officially rebr...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK QuickLink has announced the release of StudioPro Version 4, which the company is calling the most significant upgrade yet to its flagship video product...
17/10/2025
NEW YORK and CUPERTINO, Calif. Apple and NBCUniversal said they will sell Apple TV and Peacock streaming bundles to U.S. subscribers starting Oct. 20....
Park City, UT Sundance Institute today premiered the Sundance Institute Short Film Challenge, a program of nine international short films, at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The program is designed to spark global conversation about solutions to challenges like extreme hunger and poverty. Beginning Tuesday (February 3), the short films will premiere on a variety of digital platforms.
